Chapter 200 Strongest Sage, Acts as Decoy

"...I found the location of a weapon that could bring us victory against the demon. It's at a place we all are familiar with."

"Familiar place?"

I immediately replied back to Alma.

"Yeah. The capital of Eis Kingdom... Iris, can you fly?"

"Yes! My wings are fine now, going to the capital should be no problem at all!"

"Let's go now! Hurry! It's an emergency!"

I ran up the wall vertically after saying that and left the ruin behind.
The girls followed after.
And when we got to a space big enough to spread her wings, Iris transformed.

"Please get on!"

"Ou!"

We got on board and then Iris accelerated rapidly.
Since her wings have gotten a bit better, the acceleration is stable too.

"Can we make it in time?"

"...Hard to say. The time for the seal to get undone depends on Dragon Vein's movements, so we've got to go the place for a precise guess... Well, I think it's about 50-50 chance."

"Do you know where in the capital is the sword at?"

"Not to that extent... but it wasn't in the capital when we were there, so it must have been brought there recently. My guess is it's in the royal palace's treasury."

That treasury contains everything from useless toys to stuff that are too powerful to be usable unearthed from ancient ruins.
Since no one is able to tell apart those that are usable from those that aren't, they probably bring everything found in ancient ruins there indiscriminately.

I have no idea why that thing got brought to the capital at this timing... but it's probably a coincidence.

"Treasury... Looks like it won't be easy even after we get to the capital..."

"Yeah. And there's a chance it's not in the treasury, so we may be forced to look for it... That's why I'm giving these to you two."

I hand over small magic stones to Alma and Ruli.

"...What's this magic stone?"

"They're magic stones with mana reaction of our target magic sword infused inside. If the sword isn't in the treasury, look for mana reaction similar to it... If the sword is in the treasury, we'll have to talk directly to the king. In the worst case scenario, we might have to break our way into the treasury."

It's a fortunate coincidence for the sword to be at the capital.
As it's relatively close, and the great barrier in the royal capital should hold out for a while even against Zaridias, it's a good location to have a fight at.

Thanks to the great barrier, there's a slim chance of demons coming out from inside the city as reinforcement.
Weak demons might be able to deceive the barrier and slip inside the city, but the fact that no powerful demons would come to our enemy's aid is quite a big help already.

"B-break our way--wha!"

In the middle of her speech, suddenly, it was as if the two were pushed aside as they broke their posture.
In reality, nothing was pushing them. They were hit by a powerful mana wave, and mistook it for the sensation of getting pushed.
The mana wave just now was strong enough to be felt by ordinary people. It must have felt like a sudden gust of wind to these two who have trained their ability to detect mana.

"What... was that just now?"

"The seal has been broken. Will Zaridias get to us first or will we get the sword first... It's a fight against time from here on."

"Zaridias will be coming after us?"

"No mistake about it. Since we pose the biggest threat to Zaridias. He can do anything he wants once he killed us."

Full flight creates too much openings, so Zaridias is probably coming after us with normal flight.
However, normal flight of a high-ranked demon is faster than the current Iris.

Zaridias probably has started his pursuit.
Will he get to us in the middle of the way or not, now is really a critical timing.

"We'll jump off Iris once we arrive at the capital. You know how to defend yourself from the fall right?"

"Yes!"

"Just falling is a piece of cake!"

The capital would probably fall into panic when they saw Iris.
But that's good.

Of course, we're doing this to get there faster, but having it obvious how much of an emergency we're in should make it easier to secure the magic sword from the treasury also.
We can use fighting Iris as an excuse to get the magic sword after all.

"...It's about time."

The capital is still not in sight yet, but we've gotten quite close.
The fact that we still haven't got caught up must mean we're pretty lucky.

"Let's get ready to jump... Iris, slow down to about 50M/s right before you pass the capital. Make sure to decelerate right before you did."

At Iris's current speed, we'd have passed over the capital in an instant.
And yet, slowing down too much would get us there late, that's problematic.

At the current situation, arriving even a few seconds late at the capital could change the end result.

"I got it! Please direct the timing for my deceleration!"

"All right. Ruli and Alma, get yourself ready to endure the deceleration."

I probe the surrounding mana.
Since I know the mana reaction in the vicinity of the capital well, I can get our exact location through it.
A few minutes later.

"Decelerate now!"

"Yes!"

I gave the instruction at the last second, and Iris began to decelerate.
And then, just when the capital came into view, Iris slowed down just enough for us to jump off.

"Let's get off!"<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka .com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>
"Yes!"

"Gotcha!"

Ruli and Alma jumped off when I gave the instruction.
Perfect timing. The two landed right in the center of the capital.

...However, I didn't jump off despite saying 『Let's get off』 myself.
Instead, I instruct the two through comm magic.

『You two, get the magic sword and throw it at me from inside the barrier!』

『Eh, Mathi-kun, you're not coming!?』

『Zaridias is coming here fast! I'll buy us time, so get the sword in the meantime!』

The two went outside the comm magic range right after I said that.
Zaridias's mana reaction is already inside our detection range.
He should get here anytime now.

"Now then, let's go buy some time."

True enough, the capital's great barrier is useful to prevent mana intrusion.
However, a demon of Zaridias's level would easily destroy it if he's allowed to attack it freely.

Even if I went myself with the intention of breaking our way to the treasury, we still wouldn't make it in time.
And our plan would be obvious to him, he could even secure the sword ahead of us which would be the end.

Rather than taking on such a hopeless race, our chance of victory is bigger if I let the girls to get the sword while I buy them time.
Even Zaridias should have a hard time destroying the barrier while getting obstructed.

...Forget obstructing him, Zaridias would probably go after me when he saw me, so the barrier should be safe so long I'm alive.

『Iris can you shoot your breath?』

『I'm okay with one shot! As for the second one and later... I'm not sure unless I've shot the first one!』

『That's good enough. Fire your breath once when our opponent comes into view, then immediately transform back to human form and get inside the barrier.』

I told that to Iris while locating the mana reaction.
We're currently pretty close to the capital since Iris made a u-turn after arriving at the center.

It should be simple for her to go back there after transforming into her human form and got on the ground.

『Eh, I'm not going to fight?』

『Iris, it's difficult for you right now to go against Zaridias. I'd have an easier time with Iris inside the barrier than fighting while protecting Iris.』

Even if she's not in her top form, Iris is still a high-ranking dragon.
Her breath should be quite a menace even for Zaridias.

If she takes shelter inside the barrier after showing off the power of her breath once, our opponent would have a harder time in the fight.
Since if he were to stop moving near the capital, Iris in her dragon form could possibly poke her head out of the barrier and fire a breath at him.

The capital's great barrier is a barrier that only prevents demons from entering, and nothing else.
I'll make use of this convenient location to fight to the fullest.

『...I understand! Then, I'll run in a way that makes it obvious I'm inside the barrier!』

Zaridias showed itself up in the distant sky right when we were done discussing.

『All right, let's go buy some time!』

『Yes!』

I made a declaration at Zaridias who was charging straight at us.
--Now then, it's time to fight.